Domaine Julien Pilon
Domaine Julien Pilon
[The rising star of white Rhône]
Born and raised in the Rhône valley, Julien Pilon took his BTS in viticulture and oenology and then put that training to work under Yves Cuilleron.
Over the following decade and more he learned his craft at a succession of celebrated addresses: Mas Amiel in Roussillon, Terra Remota in DO Empordà in Catalonia, and Pierre-Jean Villa in the Rhône.
Eighty per cent of what Julien makes is white, and the question he wrestles with daily is how to build a white wine that is at once generous and fresh.
What he wants are wines of balance and clarity, and what he is producing today ranks among the most genuinely stylish and refined in the Rhône.
Graceful and poised, they favour delicacy over sheer power. Young as the domaine still is, Julien's whites already sit at the very top of the region.
He began making wine in 2010, describing himself as a winemaker without land and starting out as a négociant, choosing the fruit he needed with enormous care.
From a first hectare and a half he has since built a domaine of around five hectares, part owned and part rented.
A new winery came on stream in 2020, a team formed around him, and the estate has kept growing since.
Everything is picked by hand, and the vineyards are converting to organic farming — his way of showing how fundamental the idea of terroir really is.
In the cellar too he intervenes as little as he can, doing everything possible to respect the character of each individual wine.
